I don't know why this movie doesn't work, but it doesn't. I guess I'd hold the writers and the actors responsible -- the direction is efficient and the score good.

The script tells us things that most of us already know, without adding much that we didn't. Thankfully it avoid extensive shots of the death camps. If anyone needs to be told about that, he's hopelessly benighted anyway. That mass genocide was perhaps the most horrible expression of the baser impulses of human nature, and like any transcendental event should be treated with caution, not with an eye to the box office.

Still, the dialog is flat and ordinary. Giant closeups of faces telling us important things -- "For the first time, I've realized I'm a Jew" -- doesn't really help. It's like being hit over the head by someone wielding a crowbar and yelling -- "GET IT? GET IT?" Yes, we get it. Stop already.

Kirk Douglas isn't bad. In fact he's pretty good, outdone only by Topol as an Arab sheyk -- "I course your Faddair." Cheese, Topol is good. And so is his role. He plays "The Sheik of Arabie" on a Victrola and rolls his eyes with glee.

John Wayne's performance is perfunctory and so is Frank Sinatra's, but the latter's involvement is interesting. At one point in the film he protests, "Don't leave me alone -- I'm anti-Semitic." Far from being anti-Semitic he was, let's say, pro-Semitic. Like a lot of recent immigrant families in the Northeast his had a keen eye for the strengths and weaknesses of ethnicity, and Sinatra plumped for the strengths in Judaism. He envied and admired Jews for their family values and their solidarity, and even learned to read a little Hebrew. A scene in which he spurts seltzer water at an attacking Arab fighter is beneath comment.

Overall the film is not a success because it doesn't spell out in any detail exactly what Mickey Marcus actually DID for the Israelies. It won't do to have two minutes of Marcus telling them "Attack! Attack!," when ten times that amount is spent on an unconvincing adulterous affair with Senta Berger -- not that having such an affair with such a magnificent woman would be a blot on anyone's escutcheon. (I could never spell that word. It means "shield".) I guess it's worth watching once, just to remind us of a part of history that some of us have not bothered to look into. As a film, (shrug).

This movie was just not very interesting or impressive. Despite having some big name cameos, such as John Wayne in a completely gratuitous and non-compelling bit role, AND having Kirk Douglas as the star,it just never held my interest. I think it's because the story of Colonel Marcus just didn't seem worth putting on film. I also think that perhaps Douglas was not the best choice for the character, because it seemed more like Kirk playing Kirk than a real Israeli hero.

For a similar story but with a much stronger plot and writing, try EXODUS. The book EXODUS is actually a lot better, but it's a strong film nevertheless.

Col. Marcus (Kirk Douglas) is recruited to fight for an independent Israel. He must organize the disparate fighting forces to win against overwhelming odds.

The action is pretty good and the underdog story is very compelling. Kirk Douglas and Yul Brynner make for very charismatic leaders. Seeing Frank Sinatra in the movie breaks the tension. He's in it more for the comedy and probably the box office. And similarly, the same can be said of John Wayne. He's more of a distraction from the main story. Angie Dickinson has little to do as Mrs Marcus. Senta Berger is the Israeli love interest and she overacts in a pivotal scene. There's a lot of melodrama going on with her.

The saving grace is Kirk Douglas. He is the magnetic personality that glues the movie together. He's the driving force, and it's him that makes this movie works. It is a bit of a sided propaganda piece, but I don't think it should be penalized for it.